View-Master Mark II Stereo Camera (1962)

This stereo camera was produced by Sawyer’s in Belgium from 1962 onwards and was designed to produce images for View-Master stereo reels. It had a pair of Rodenstock f/2.8 20mm lenses with fixed focus and an exposure dial with an unusual coloured guidance table. It produces a diagonal film path on 35mm slide film, resulting in 75 pairs on a 36 exposure roll. The tiny photos (1.3x1.1cm) then needed to be cut out of the film with a specially designed cutter, and mounted into blank reels – a very precise and time-consuming job. I bought mine years ago and took it with me on a trip to Monaco in 2005. Now that I’ve bought an Epson V500, I finally have the chance to digitalise them. The pictures look much better through a View-Master viewer in 3D, but still it’s nice to be able to put them online.